1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates generally to a system and method for using a plurality of return electrodes during electrosurgery and, more particularly, to a system and method for balancing the various thermal effects of the plurality of return electrodes by minimizing the probability of tissue damage and ensuring the plurality of return electrodes are properly attached to a patient.
2. Background of Related Art
During electrosurgery, a source or active electrode delivers energy, such as radio frequency (RF) energy, from an electrosurgical generator to a patient and a return electrode or a plurality thereof carry current back to the electrosurgical generator. In monopolar electrosurgery, the source electrode is typically a hand-held instrument placed by the user at the surgical site and the high current density flow at this electrode creates the desired surgical effect of ablating, cutting or coagulating tissue. The patient return electrodes are placed at a remote site from the source electrode and are typically in the form of pads adhesively adhered to the patient.
The return electrodes usually have a large patient contact surface area to minimize heating at that site since the smaller the surface area, the greater the current density and the greater the intensity of the heat. That is, the area of the return electrode that is adhered to the patient is important because it is the current density of the electrical signal that heats the tissue. A larger surface contact area is desirable to reduce heat intensity. Return electrodes are sized based on assumptions of the maximum current seen in surgery and the duty cycle (i.e., the percentage of time the generator is on) during the procedure.
The first types of return electrodes were in the form of large metal plates covered with conductive jelly. Later, adhesive electrodes were developed with a single metal foil covered with conductive jelly or conductive adhesive. However, one problem with these adhesive electrodes was that if a portion peeled from the patient, the contact area of the electrode with the patient decreased, thereby increasing the current density at the adhered portion and, in turn, increasing the heat applied to the tissue. This risked burning the patient in the area under the adhered portion of the return electrode if the tissue was heated beyond the point where circulation of blood could cool the skin.
To address this problem, split return electrodes and hardware circuits, generically called return electrode contact quality monitors (RECQMs), were developed. These split electrodes consist of two separate conductive foils. The hardware circuit uses an AC signal between the two electrode halves to measure the impedance therebetween. This impedance measurement is indicative of how well the return electrode is adhered to the patient since the impedance between the two halves is directly related to the area of patient contact with the return electrode. That is, if the electrode begins to peel from the patient, the impedance increases since the contact area of the electrode decreases. Current RECQMs are designed to sense this change in impedance so that when the percentage increase in impedance exceeds a predetermined value or the measured impedance exceeds a threshold level, the electrosurgical generator is shut down to reduce the chances of burning the patient.
Currently, during electrosurgical procedures involving especially high current, it is common to use multiple return electrodes to ensure adequate surface area to minimize heating at the return electrodes and thereby minimize the risk of damaging tissue. Typical ablation procedures can deliver up to 2.0 Arms for up to 20 minutes either continuously or with periodic current pulses. This extended duration for a high total current value may create a potential for alternate site burns due to return electrode pad heating. Further, the use of multiple return electrodes may also pose an additional potential problem—the increase in temperature under each of the return electrodes is not uniform, e.g., there is a thermal imbalance among the multiple return electrodes. This is caused by the differing impedance values between the active electrode and each of the multiple return electrodes, which varies due to placement and proximity of the active electrode to the return electrode.
Typically, since current is the primary factor in return electrode heating, measurement of the total current output from the electrosurgical generator may be used to infer possible tissue damage. Although the total current output of the electrosurgery generator is approximately equal to the sum of the current through each of the return electrodes, the individual return electrode currents may not be equal due to the differing impedances as described above. This condition may generate an imbalance of current among each of the return electrodes resulting in an imbalance of thermal rise on the return electrodes.